Soffit closure assembly



April 1969 R. T. MILES ETAL 3,440,778

SOFFI'I CLOSURE ASSEMBLY Original Filed May 25, 1964 Sheet of 3 INVENTORS Russel TMiZes, Pmzz' E w BY fi w m 'TTORNEY6 April 29, 1969 R. T. MILES ETAL SOFFIT CLOSURE ASSEMBLY Sheet 2 Of3 Original Filed May 25, 1964 INVENTORS Mm s m km 0 I; Z 84 m; B W w m BYE April 1969 R. T. MILES ETAL 3,440,778

SOFFIT CLOSURE AS SEMBLY Original Filed May 25, 1964 Sheet 3 of 3 INVENTORS fassel 7. Miles, Pk &' Z i/v E. 4714 6719022 ATTORNEYS United States Patent O U.S. C]. 52-94 v 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus including a rake bar and a triangular closure member are utilized to finish the space at the end of a pitched roof which overhangs the corner of a building.

Cross reference to related application This application is a division of copending application Ser. No. 370,026 filed May 25, 1964, Patent No. 3,344,566.

The present invention relates to a light weight, weather resistant, sheet metal closure assembly for providing a finished appearance at the juncture between the lower end of a pitched roof and a generally horizontal soffit which is disposed beneath the overhang of the pitched roof at each side of the corner of a building. The closure assembly may be assembled without the use of special tools, and can be quickly erected.

The invention will be described in detail in connection with the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is an end view of a corner of a building having an overhanging pitched roof and showing the closure assembly.

FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a support bar used in the apparatus of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of a clip employed in the invention.

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a triangular closure member.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of a corner bracket employed in the apparatus of FIGURE 1.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIGURE 1, the pitched roof 34 overhangs the corner of a building formed at the end of wall 304 in two directions, that is to the left as seen in FIGURE 1 and also outwardly from the plane of FIGURE 1. A fascia, gutter and gutter hanger system generally designated by reference numeral 60 is connected to the roof by way of a flange 30 which may be nailed to the roof sheathing, the flange 30 terminating at its outward end in a drip edge 36. The fascia, gutter and gutter hanger assembly 60 are of the construction disclosed and claimed in the aforementioned copending application Ser. No. 370,026, Patent No. 3,344,566, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference. This assembly will not be described in detail in this applicaton since such description is unnecessary to an understanding of the invention claimed in this application.

An inclined rake bar 302 is supported from the roof by suitable rake bar clips 182, the details of which also do not form a part of the present invention. However, it will be understood that the clip 182 may be nailed to the roof sheathing with a downwardly depending lip 196 serving to assist in positioning the rake bar. The rake bar and clips 182 may be suitably engaged, for example, by means of tabs (not shown) on the clips engaging behind suitably bent lips (not shown) provided on the rake bar.

The triangular closure member 300, which is best seen ice in FIGURE 5, has its hypotenuse formed by a flexible lip 306 which is bent out of the plane of a vertical body portion 308 and is provided with a plurality of pressed out tabs 310. The generally horizontal leg 312 of the closure member makes an angle with the hypotenuse, lip 306, which is equal to the pitch of the roof, and is formed integral with the vertical body portion by bending to produce legs 314, 316 which are connected by a vertical portion 318. Legs 314 and 316 are adapted to engage the end of a soflit member 320 as will be described more fully hereinafter.

The short vertical leg 319 of the triangle is also provided with legs 314, 316 connected by a connecting portion 318 to form a soffit mounting for a vertical return soffit member 321, as is evident in FIGURE 1.

The rake bar and closure member are secured together by means of clips 338 which are locked to a flexible lip of the rake bar and to a lip 306 of the closure member.

Referring to FIGURES 2 and 4, each clip 338 is of U- shape with a lower leg being reversely bent at its end to define a hook 342, and with an upper leg 344 being deformed to provide inwardly extending tabs 346. As is seen in FIGURE 2, the lips 160 and 306 are bent at an angle to lay flat against each other when the closure member 300 and the rake bar 302 lie in a common vertical plane. The tabs 346 of the clips engage a hook 162 provided at the end of the lip 160 of the rake bar while the hooks 342 of the clips are adapted to engage behind downwardly bent tabs 310 provided in the lip 306 of the closure member.

An L-shaped support bar 326 is secured to the wall 304, for example, by nails 328 (FIG. 2). The support bar, which is best seen in FIG. 3, has two legs which are each formed of sheet metal bent to form cooperating mounting legs 330, 332. Referring to FIG. 2, leg 332 is made by reversely bending the sheet metal to form spaced walls 334, 336 to define a groove for receiving and gripping the horizontal soffit 2. The upper leg 330 includes an upwardly bent portion terminating in an edge 331. Upwardly bent tabs 323 in the upper surface of the soffit member 320, which is disposed between legs 330 and 332, engage behind the edge of the support bar leg 330.

The opposite edge of the soffit member 320, that is, the edge which is remote from the wall of the building, is similarly engaged between legs 314 and 316 of the closure member 300. Additional upwardly bent tabs 323 on the sofiit member engage behind the edge 333 of the leg 316.

In use, the horizontal soffit member 320 and the vertical sotfit member 321 may be connected to the closure member 300 by moving said sotiit members between the two cooperating pairs of legs 314 and 316 of the closure member 300- until tabs 323 provided on the soffit members snap behind the edges 333 of the legs 316. This unit may be assembled on the ground or at any other convenient place and then raised into position. At this time, the free edges of the sofiit members are moved into position adjacent the wall 304, and inserted into the grooves provided between the cooperating pairs of legs 330 and 332 of the support bar 326 until the tabs 232 snap behind the edges 331 of the legs 330. The upper slant side or hypotenuse of the closure member 300 is connected to the rake bar 302 which has already been placed in position by engagement of the hooks 342 of the clamps 338 behind the downwardly bent tabs 310 on the lip 3-06 of the closure member.

Referring again to FIGURE 1, it will be noted that above and to the right of the vertical soffit member 321,, an additional soffit member 2 extends upwardly under the overhang of the roof 34 to the peak of the roof.

In the event that the use of soflit members 320 and 321 is not required; the closure member 300 can be secured directly to the support bar 326 by positioning legs 316 of the closure member between legs 330 and 332 of the support bar until the shoulder 324 of tabs 322 provided in leg 316 snap behind the edge 331 of the leg 330 of the support bar.

A corner piece 402 is utilized to provide a finished appearance at the corner of this structure where the fascia, rake bar and closure member come together, as is seen in FIGURE 1. The structure of the corner piece is illustrated in detail in FIGURE 6 and includes two wall sections 404 and 406 at right angles to each other. The wall section 404 is reversely bent to provide a groove 408 for reception of the rake bar 302. The wall section 406 which overlies the fascia has at its top a bendable tab 410 which is adapted to be fit under the sheathing locator portion of the fascia, and has tabs 412 and 414 at its lower end for engagement with the lower end of the fascia.

Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated that various changes and modifications will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

1. An assembly for finishing the end of a building having a pitched roof and an overhanging eave, said assembly comprising an inclined rake bar secured to the end of said building, said rake bar having flexible lip means on the portion extending along said cave, a right triangular shaped closure member having the hypotenuse and one side thereof including an angle approximately equal to the pitch of the roof, flexible lip means integral with the hypotenuse of said closure member, the lip means on said hypotenuse being disposed in parallel contacting relation with the lip means on said rake bar, clip means operatively connecting the flexible lip means of said rake bar to the flexible lip means of said closure member, a soflit member disposed beneath the overhanging eave of said pitched roof and in substantially coplanar relation with said one side of said closure member, and leg means disposed along said one side of said closure member and secured to an adjacent edge of said sofiit member.

2. An assembly according to claim 1, wherein one of the flexible lip means include outwardly bent tabs, and wherein the clip means comprise a plurality of spaced clips having hooks to engage said tabs.

3. An assembly according to claim 2, wherein the other of the flexible lip means is provided with a hooked end, and wherein said clips are provided with tabs in operative engagement with the hooked end.

4. An assembly according to claim 1, further comprising a generally vertical return sofiit member positioned along the third edge of said closure member normal to the plane of said closure member and the first said soflit member, and the third side of said closure member having integral leg means engaging and supporting the generally vertical return sofi'lt member at one edge thereof.

5. An assembly according to claim 4, further comprising a generally L-shaped support bar secured to the building beneath the overhanging eave, said support bar having a generally horizontal leg having spaced wall portions defining a groove receiving and gripping another edge of said sol'fit member, and said support bar having a generally vertical leg having spaced wall portions defining a groove receiving and gripping an edge of the generally vertical return soflit member.

6. An assembly according to claim 5, wherein said horizontal leg of said support bar is provided with means defining a second groove opening in a direction opposite to that of the first mentioned groove, and further comprising an additional generally horizontal sofiit section received and gripped within the second groove.

7. An assembly according to claim 1, further comprising a corner piece having walls at right angles to each other secured over and finishing the juncture of the lower end of the rake bar and the outer end of the closure member at the edge of the overhanging cave.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,170,266 2/1965 Roberts et al. 52-11 3,181,275 5/1965 Schroter et al 52-94 3,204,374 9/ 1965 Hellekson 5294 3,332,180 7/1967 Price 5294 FOREIGN PATENTS 817,731 8/1959 Great Britain.

HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

